SUKKUR: Pakistan Peoples Party’s senior leader Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah has advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to stop repeating his frequent refrain “I won’t give NRO to opposition” because people had not cast votes to have corruption eliminated; their only objective to go to the polls was to see inflation curbed, get jobs and better health and education services.

Shah was talking to media persons outside accountability court here on Saturday.

The court was to announce indictment of Shah and 17 other co-accused, including his two wives, two sons and a son-in-law, in a NAB reference about accumulating assets worth Rs1.23 billion beyond known sources of income. However, Judge Fareed Anwar Qazi adjourned the hearing to Nov 9 after some of the suspects failed to turn up.

Shah termed the prime minister’s repeated remarks about the National Reconciliation Ordin­ance — which was granted to politicians by Gen Pervez Musharraf — and his “crusade” against the corrupt elite as a farce and an attempt to save himself from peoples’ accountability, but he would not succeed.

‘They want to see inflation curbed, get employment and better health and education services’

He said that the prevailing conditions required all stakeholders to sit together to resolve chronic problems of inflation, unemployment and poverty. Imran Khan, therefore, should stop his antics over corruption and end issuing threats to the “corrupt elite”, he said.

He said that the debate on calling out names of army and ISI chiefs in speech must come to an end now and “we should start thinking about how to rein in increasing inflation”.

He said in answer to a question that if a party leader’s participation in election process was hindered and he was stopped from visiting a constituency when federal ministers were free to run election campaign then a clear announcement should be made that Gilgit-Baltistan election was being held on non-party basis.

He welcomed Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Jahangir Tareen back to the country and said that NAB Sukkur had not yet filed the final reference in the case. Since some of the suspects nominated in the reference did not appear in court the hearing was put off to Nov 9, he said.

Khursheed Shah’s counsel advocate Mukesh Kumar Karira and NAB prosecutor Malik Zubair appeared before the judge but neither NAB filed the final reference against the suspects, nor the court indicted them.

Shah was brought to the court through an ambulance of NICVD hospital for attending the hearing while provincial minister Awais Shah and other accused appeared before the court.

Strict security arrangements were made outside the court during the hearing of the case. A large number of PPP workers also gathered outside the court.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2020